1997, the year of Tony Blair’s Labour Party victory in the general election… and the year of release of this single. Some kind of political statement is being made, perhaps, with the cover art (unless it’s just a sly interpretation of the artist’s name). Tony and Cherie, eating a tasty burger, Tony wearing a tie […]
Author: simonminter
THE GROOVE FARM: The Big Black Plastic Explosion! (12″, Subway SUBWAY 19T, 1988)
‘Big Black’ in this record’s title refers to the glory of a twelve-inch piece of vinyl, of course, and not to Steve Albini’s thundering industrial rock band. The Groove Farm were thundering, too, but in an altogether more indie-pop fashion. Thunderingly cute and perky. A twelve-inch record being released by an indie-pop band was a […]
CONFETTI: Whatever Became Of Alice And Jane (7″, Sunday SUNDAY 012, 1992)
It doesn’t get much more cutesy indie-pop than Confetti. If it does, Sunday Records probably released the records involved. As well as several Confetti singles, they also put out releases by the Fat Tulips, Strawberry Story and Po! in their early days. The American-based label, whose postal address situates them in the excellently-named Rolling Meadows, […]
SUICIDE: Suicide (LP, Red Star BRON 508, 1977)
This is one of those albums that’s widely held up as massively inspirational, a classic, but simultaneously one that would very likely be unheard of by all but the most informed ‘man in the street’. Suicide were associated with the New York-based No Wave microscene of the late 1970s, but seemed somehow detached from it, […]
THE ROLLING STONES: Their Satanic Majesties Request (LP, Decca TXS 103, 1967)
This isn’t the original release, as it doesn’t have the amazing 3D sleeve that so blew my mind when I saw a copy some years ago – although that was, mainly, because the three-dimensionality was of a similar low quality to the novelty measuring rulers that I used to have at school in the mid-1980s […]
JETHRO TULL: Stand Up (LP, Fame FA 4130861, ?)
This isn’t the original release of this album, which came out first in, er… [quick internet research…] 1969. This is some wacky reissue that, as far as I can tell, isn’t the reissue from 1973 that’s mentioned in lots of places. So I guess that this record was never actually released, and therefore doesn’t actually […]
THE STATIC WAVES: Wear The Suit (7″, Sound Of New York, ?)
The Static Waves were a fuzzy indie-pop-noise kinda band from the mid-nineties*, a member of which I was in touch with via the fanzine/mail scene of the time. As far as I remember, I’d had a couple of their demo tapes and then I was very pleased to hear they’d decided to release their own […]
BABYLON DANCE BAND: Someday (7″, Trash Flow TF03, 1990)
I’ve mentioned before the pile of American indie 7″ singles that I once bought from eBay (both here and here), and this is another from that batch. Now, I have no idea whatsoever who Babylon Dance Band are, or how they fit into any kind of lineage of music. I’d never heard of them before […]
THE MAGIC SHOP/THE VISITORS: It’s True/Goldmining (7″ flexi, Sha-La-La BA BA BA-BA BA 008, 1987)
A flexible slice of indie-pop history, this – the Sha-La-La label was the precursor to Sarah Records; they released a number of flexidiscs that were generally sold with fanzines. They all had fantastically evocative, two-colour wraparound sleeves, which tended to use imagery that was much the style of the time (and the genre): 1960s/1970s-esque pictures […]
ALLEN CLAPP: A Change In The Weather (7″, Four Letter Words 004, ?)
This record – as a package – is a little thing of beauty. Some aspects of it that appeal to me are: The sleeve: it’s a type of standard seven inch single inner sleeve, elevated to the status of The Cover by way of some really nice, what look to be hand-stamped (or perhaps screen-printed) […]